Update: Deputy pulls unconscious driver from burning car in Tri-Cities parking lot
An unconscious man was pulled out of a burning car in a Kennewick parking lot Monday morning.
Benton County sheriff’s Cpl. JP Benitez was passing the Rite Aid Pharmacy on Ely Street when he saw a SUV on fire after crashing into a pickup in the parking lot.
Benitez spotted the unconscious man in the SUV and pulled him out and then started working on reviving him.
Firefighters and police arrived in time to stop the fire before it got inside the SUV.
The man’s beard was scorched but he was not seriously hurt, Michael said.
Another person was found in the camper. He wasn’t hurt.
Kennewick police investigators believe the man in the SUV had overdosed and passed out before the crash.
The SUV’s driver was arrested on suspicion of DUI and two counts of reckless endangerment.
He was taken to Trios Southridge Hospital to have a blood sample taken and to be checked out before being booked into the Benton County jail, police said in a release.
This story was originally published March 7, 2022 at 11:06 AM.